The Laramie Project Analysis

The Laramie Project covers the story of the murder of Matthew Shepard, however, Shepard makes no appearance in the film. The only information about him comes from the people of Laramie, reminiscent of Citizen Kane. The director made this choice to make viewers form their own opinions on Shepard by giving conflicting opinions of him and make the film more focused on the town of Laramie rather than solely on Shepard.

Throughout the film Shepard is never shown in any way. No actor portrays him to reenact scenes of his life, the director never even shows a picture of him. Information about his personality is only given through the townspeople. Their opinions of Shepard are often conflicting. Most people focused on the positive aspects of him …show more content…
It is a community similar to any small town throughout America. There are many conflicting opinions and everybody is familiar with each other. The focus on the town is meant to show that this could happen in any town throughout the United States and that the community would react in a similar way. This is meant to be a message to the gay community that there are many people out there who are willing to fight for their rights. This message was more effective when the movie was released in 2002 when being gay was viewed in a more negative way. A little over a decade later being gay is largely accepted by society.

If Shepard had been featured in the film it would have drastically changed how viewers thought of him. The director could portray him in anyway he wanted to alter people's opinion of Shepard. The only reliable information would be coming from Shepard in the film as opposed to from having to trust the information given by the town which in turn would have shifted the focus of the film completely to Shepard and away from Laramie. Not having Shepard in the film is a is a smart choice by the director because it makes the viewers think about the film more while they’re watching